Monday, December 14, 2009

The presentation will be made in Room 406 of Higgins Hall North, located at the corner of St. James Place and Lafayette Avenue in Clinton Hill (near, but not on, the main Pratt campus). The building houses the School of Architecture, which includes the planning & preservation programs.

The nearest train is the G, the Clinton-Washington stop. Coming from Carroll Gardens you want to be in the front of the train in order to use the Washington Avenue exit. When leaving the subway system, go through the turnstiles and turn RIGHT to go up the stairs and outside. This stairway will put you on Lafayette Avenue, heading in precisely the right direction. Walk one block to St. James Place. Higgins Hall is the large Victorian corner building complex across St. James, and the entrance is in a modern "hyphen" between the two historic buildings. From the guard desk, turn left to go to the North wing; the elevator will be right in front of you. Once on the 4th floor, turn right and go through the double doors to 406.

Friday, December 4, 2009

This past summer, State Senator Squadron called on the MTA to conduct a full line review of the F Train in response to the many constituent complaints he received regarding ongoing service problems. In October, the MTA released the findings from this review in a comprehensive report (which you can find on Senator Squadron's website at: www.squadron.nysenate.gov).

To make this report even more accessible to the public, Senator Daniel Squadron and Community Boards 2 & 6 invite you to attend a Town Hall Meeting about the F train. MTA representatives will discuss the recent report about F train performance, and discuss proposals for improving service.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The NYC Economic Development Corporation will soon announce the selection of a consultant to perform the Brooklyn Queens Expressway enhancement study. In order to prepare for participation in the public meetings that will be conducted during the study, we would like to gather opinion from Columbia Waterfront residents. Having a sense of the neighborhood's feelings about potential alterations to the BQE will enable us to effectively represent the community for the study. You can access the study here: http://cowna.surveyconsole.com

There are 9 questions, the study is anonymous and it should take only a few minutes to complete. We plan on incorporating the results of this survey into the discussion at our upcoming General Meeting on December 7th.

A Stakeholder Advisory Committee meeting was held last night for the proposed rehabilitation project for the BQE cantilevers. The purpose of the meeting was to review comments on the Draft Scoping Document (DSD) and the proposed alternatives screening criteria. At this point in the process, the goal is to produce a final scoping document that sets forth the project needs and purpose, identifies the project limits, the study area limits, identifies alternatives, and outlines the environment impact analysis.

Representatives from NYSDOT and the consulting firm Henningson, Durham & Richardson reviewed comments received from local community groups, residents and concerned agencies. These comments have been collected and tabulated and are available from the project website (see below). Consultants presented the "Alternatives Analysis Process, Level 1 Screening Criteria" which is a critical process used to evaluate proposed alternatives for the project. Much discussion ensued from this presentation and it was clear that further development of the criteria is essential.

The traffic consultant presented an updated traffic study which focused on accident frequency on the BQE in the project area and correlated accident rates to the 'substandard' features of the roadway.

For the Waterfront Community, the important issues are potential impact of diverted traffic, construction staging, and reconstruction of the on/off ramps at Atlantic Avenue. Please visit the project website which includes a description of the project and various documents such as the draft DSD which can be downloaded.

About CoWNA:

The formation of the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association was rooted in the wave of community involvement in the Pier 7-12 redevelopment forums co-hosted by the EDC and CB6 during 2005/2006. Since then, CoWNA has grown into an active and participatory neighborhood advocacy group representing the wide array of concerns and interests of the people and businesses who proudly call the Columbia Waterfront home.